If you have 11 sensitive spots on your body, it may indicate you suffer from this health condition

By Sumi Sukanya Dutta

Do your muscles ache? Feel exhausted often? You may have a condition that impacts 7 to 8 per cent of the population.

I have fibromyalgia and I struggle every day, but it will never have me.” Swati Agarwal wrote these words on her palm and posted a picture of it on her Facebook page for a full day a week ago. Agarwal was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia a full two years after she first started experiencing its symptoms, the 29-year-old corporate lawyer tells us. Her experience is hardly unusual. In fact, it’s precisely because it can remain undiagnosed for so long that fibromyalgia is often referred to as an “invisible illness.”

“I was fresh out of law school and had landed a job with a reputed bank as an in-house lawyer. I was all fired up with ambition but my life changed drastically as chronic body pain and fatigue started plaguing me all the time,” Agarwal recalls. “It became challenging to perform even basic chores, and it was impossible to get out of bed in the mornings. Eventually, the condition toll on many of my personal relationships,” she recalls. “I met several doctors, but no one could pinpoint the cause of my symptoms.”

Why they can’t identify it

Even when her disease was finally diagnosed by a Mumbai-based neurologist, he offered no line of treatment. Currently employed with an NGO in a position that allows her to take advantage of flexible work hours, Agarwal says she has now learned to live with the disease, which, health experts estimate affects 7 to 8 per cent of the population, mostly women. Though it’s one of the most common musculoskeletal diseases, next only to osteoarthritis, it frustrates doctors too as there’s no pathological test that can conclusively identify the condition.

“We call it a diagnosis of exclusion,” says Dr Uday Pawar, a Parel based spine and pain specialist. “When all other possibilities for symptoms of chronic body ache and tiredness have been ruled out, we conclude that it could be case of fibromyalgia,” Pawar explains, “and then, the patient is then taught about pain management.”

The experts we spoke to, however, also tell us that the diagnosis is often delayed because some doctors question whether this is a genuine health condition at all. For sufferers, the ambiguity can lead to depression as they’re often labelled ‘lazy’ or ‘hypochondriac.’

Who does it affect?

“Youngsters and pre-menopausal or post-menopausal women are most susceptible,” says Dr Nikhil J Arbatti, a spine surgeon based in Vile Parle. A higher rate of fibromyalgia is seen in patients with type-2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome and patients on haemodialysis — a method of removing waste from the blood.

While doctors believe it can occur on its own in many cases, factors like a family history, the experience of a major physical trauma such as a road accident, repetitive injury to some part of the body, and a severe illness may put you in the ‘high risk’ bracket.

Signs to look for

People with this condition tend to have sensitive points specifically on the neck, shoulder, hips, legs, arms and back. They may also suffer from several of the following:

• Trouble sleeping

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Cognitive and memory issues

• Anxiety and depression

• Numbness or a pins-and-needlesensation in the arms and legs

• Sensitivity to temperature

• Incontinence

• Restless leg syndrome

• Sensitivity to noise and light

Do you have it?

Check for these:

• Body ache, in both, the right and the left sides of the torso and below the waist, for over three months

• The presence of at least 11 tender points — spots that hurt when pressure is put on them.

What you can do

Dr Milind K Merchant, an orthopaedic surgeon in Andheri, recommends:

1 Exercise: People in pain often tend to avoid any form of physical activity, but a complete lack of exercise may worsen the symptoms.

2 Reduce stress: Make some time for yourself every day. If your work is highly demanding or very stressful, consider switching to another profession.

3 Sleep management: Not getting enough sleep is one of the main symptoms of the disease, and it also initiates a cycle that aggravates the condition.

4 Massage/acupuncture: One or a combination of such remedies can offer relief.

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